backgroundn.
/ˈbakɡraʊnd/, U.S. /ˈbækˌɡraʊnd/ 1.
a. The ground or surface lying at the back of or behind the chief objects of contemplation, which occupy the foreground. (Formerly, the part of the stage in a theatre remote from the audience.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > position at the back > [noun] > that which lies behind something
background1672
backcloth1955
1672 W. Wycherley Love in Wood iii. ii Ranger retires to the background.
1824 in R. B. Sheridan Pizarro i. i. 9 (stage direct.) in Dolby's Brit. Theatre I Elv. [sc. Elvira] walks about pensively in the back ground.
1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 260 The low cottage in the back-ground.
b. esp. as represented in any of the Arts of Design. spec. in Photography. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > work of art > [noun] > artistically conceived design > part of > specific part
fonda1650
background1752
1752 tr. E. F. Gersaint Catal. Etchings Rembrandt 94 The Back-ground is always faint, the Aqua-fortis having failed.
1847 Ld. Lindsay Sketches Hist. Christian Art I. 114 The backgrounds are either architectural in the Byzantine style, or mountainous.
1858 T. Sutton Dict. Photogr. 29 In taking portraits, it is generally necessary to place a background behind the sitter. This is made by stretching a sheet of canvas..and painting it of an appropriate colour in distemper.
1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 756 Makers of exposure meters..Background manufacturers.
1961 A. L. M. Sowerby Dict. Photogr. (ed. 19) 47 The following method of preparing a background and painting it will be found reliable.
c. figurative. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > circumstance or circumstances > [noun] > environment, setting, or background
setting1841
scenics1842
background1854
milieu1854
environment1855
conditions1856
surroundings1861
medium1865
ambient1902
1854 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine Introd. 28 Egypt..is the background of the whole history of the Israelites.
1858 N. Hawthorne Fr. & Ital. Jrnls. (1871) I. 160 A statelier dome..shining on the background of the night of Time.
1868 D. G. Rossetti Let. 7 Oct. (1965) II. 668 Immense variety of background-material for any conceivable outdoor subject.
1928 Coll. Papers H. Bradley Pref. p. vii These papers..form a background without which his labours on the Dictionary cannot be truly judged.
1930 J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement iii. 138 That international English,..a language without roots and background.
1940 Cambr. Bibliogr. Eng. Lit. I. p. xv The Middle English Period..(ii) The Political Background..(iii) The Social Background.
1951 G. Greene Lost Childhood iii. 121 A young historian..gathering..background material.
1956 ‘M. Innes’ Old Hall, New Hall i. v. 52 Do some background reading in published sources.
1961 B. R. Wilson Sects & Society p. ix Some of the background literature of my subject.
d. A person's cultural knowledge, education, experience, environment, etc.; social surroundings.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > circumstance or circumstances > [noun] > environment, setting, or background > of a person
roots1840
background1913
1913 J. Webster Daddy-Long-Legs 209 I'm glad I don't belong to such a family! I should truly rather have the John Grier Home for a background.
1923 Ladies' Home Jrnl. Oct. 236/3 A charming girl lacking only the ‘background’ that wealth makes possible.
1934 A. L. Haskell Balletomania xi. 219 Had she possessed a background of orthodox technical training [etc.].
1954 Manch. Guardian Weekly 9 Dec. 2/2 A military background is not a full and complete preparation for a Chief Executive.
1959 Manch. Guardian 1 Aug. 8/3 Pupils are selected by interview... Family background is a major consideration.
e. Music, sound-effects, etc., subordinated to or accompanying some other activity, esp. music used as an accompaniment to a film or broadcast programme. Chiefly attributive. Originally U.S.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > [noun] > background music
incidental music1864
score1927
background1928
1928 B.B.C. Hand Bk. 1929 68 A..new design of control room has been decided upon, wherein effects, echoes, background music, etc. can be mixed together.
1934 E. B. Marks They All Sang xvii. 215 As the hero was wheeled to the operating room, the strains of ‘You're the Cheese in My Mousetrap’ would trickle into the auditorium as background music.
1937 L. Lewis Radio Dict. in Printers' Ink Monthly Apr. 49/1 Background, any musical or sound effect used in backing up dialog or sound.
1937 Times 25 Sept. 8/2 Le Coq d'Or was no longer a musical work ‘before all else’, but only a musical work heard while something else very attractive to the eye was going on. It was in fact the beginning of that process now known to the B.B.C. as ‘background listening’.
1946 S. Goddard in A. L. Bacharach Brit. Music i. 28 A rachitic progeny of background music to documentary films.
1949 L. Feather Inside Be-bop ii. 17 Vocals..with fine backgrounds and solos by Bird.
1958 Listener 21 Aug. 260/1 As with our own Light Programme the ‘background’ music or entertainment is a comfort and solace to many.
f. background heater (see quot. 1961), background heating.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > heating or making hot > that which or one who heats > [noun] > a device for heating or warming > devices for heating buildings, rooms, etc.
space heater1913
background heater1939
1939 J. L. Martin & S. Speight Flat Bk. ii. 25 There are excellent gas convector or background heaters.
1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 76/1 A ½ watt per cubic foot for background heating.
1961 Gloss. Terms Gas Industry (B.S.I.) 62 Background heater, a heater normally in continuous use which supplies heat to a room at such a rate as will provide a general temperature slightly below comfort temperature.
2.
a. A less prominent position, where an object is not readily noticed; retirement, obscurity.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > privacy > [noun] > less prominent position
recess1616
background1781
1781 R. B. Sheridan Critic (1883) iii. i. 177 Keep your madness in the background.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 253 Political friends thought it best..that he should remain in the background.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People iv. §2. 174 This settlement of the Parliament may have helped to throw into the background its character as a supreme court of appeal.
b. attributive or as adj. Keeping in the background; retiring. colloquial.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > [adjective] > retiring or withdrawn
soleinc1450
retiring1566
retireda1616
oyster-like1665
squab1689
shy of oneself1722
indrawn1751
introverted1850
background1896
retreative1898
introvert1916
introversive1923
withdrawn1932
1896 Westm. Gaz. 9 Dec. 2/1 A reticent, background kind of lover.
1904 Daily Chron. 11 Feb. 8/6 ‘Cultivate a background manner,’ is the advice of a lady..to governesses seeking situations.
3. Adventitious signals or effects in the reception or recording of sound. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic phenomena > signal > [noun] > unwanted part of signal > types of
stray1901
atmospherics1905
static1905
pickup1925
ambient noise1926
background1927
ground noise1929
hum1929
Johnson noise1929
microphonic1929
thermal noise1930
parasitic1943
flicker noise1947
overhang1971
1927 Radio Assoc. Official Handbk. 70 The purity of amplification..and the silence of the ‘background’, owing to successful elimination of atmospherics and ‘mush’, is remarkable.
1942 R. C. Norris Radio Engin. ii. 35/1 This tends to introduce background noise, which would be entirely avoided if a really good aerial were in use.
1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio vii. 132 One of the problems which may arise when tape is re-used is a background ‘chatter’ from the previous recording.
4. Physics. The level of radiation arising from cosmic rays and other natural sources. Also attributive, as background count n. the result (in counts or pulses per unit time) of measuring such radiation.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic nucleus > radioactivity > ionizing radiation > [noun] > cosmic rays > level of radiation from
background1930
background count1950
1930 London, Edinb. & Dublin Philos. Mag. 7th Ser. 9 642 The aim..was..to deduce the relative number of electrons falling in the central spot, in one of the rings or in the continuous background.
1933 E. Rutherford in Proc. Royal Soc. A. 141 274 This radiation gives rise to an inconvenient background ‘wobble’ in the output from the counting chamber.
1947 Sci. News 2 140 If a G-M (Geiger-Müller) counter has a background of 30 pulses per minute.
1950 F. Gaynor Encycl. Atomic Energy 26 Background count.
1959 C. Hodder-Williams Chain Reaction viii. 98 No trace of radioactivity was detected over and above the normal background count.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
backgroundv.
1. To form a background to.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > position at the back > form the back or background of [verb (transitive)]
background1768
back1826
1768 S. Bentley River Dove 8 Far distant as Vision can go, High Weever back-grounds the gay scene.
1843 E. B. Barrett Lett. R. H. Horne (1877) I. 70 Where there is no reserve of character to background it [shyness].
1891 C. T. C. James Romantic Rigmarole 75 The ‘antique spires’ of the College Chapel, backgrounded with crimson sunset.
1904 Westm. Gaz. 17 Nov. 4/2 Planted on to the material like a raised embroidery, and backgrounded with manipulations of tulle or chiffon.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 4 May 4/2 Hair..well dressed can background these [features] with such effect that the face..may become almost beauty.
2. To place in the background, to make inconspicuous. Chiefly figurative opposed to foreground v.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > privacy > make private [verb (transitive)]
close1430
retire1605
imprivacya1670
recess1795
background1891
1891 S. Mostyn Curatica xii. 164 I am not sure if there was any bread and butter; if there was, it was..ignominiously back-grounded, so that I did not see it.
1976 Word 27 125 The thesis of this article is that the perceptual salience of certain aspects of events naturally foregrounds certain actions and entities and backgrounds others in a semantically predictable manner, dictating the structure of early sentences.
1980 Times Lit. Suppl. 19 Sept. 1045/4 Another tradition of anthropology follows Durkheim in backgrounding the intellectual propositions and foregrounding the moral persuasions of religion.
3. To inform (someone) of the circumstances pertaining to an event, situation, or the like, esp. its causes, history, etc.; to ‘fill in’ (to fill in 5 at fill v. Phrasal verbs).
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > action of informing > give (information) [verb (transitive)] > inform (a person)
to teach a person a thingc888
meanOE
wiseOE
sayOE
wittera1225
tellc1225
do to witc1275
let witc1275
let seec1330
inform1384
form1399
lerea1400
to wit (a person) to saya1400
learn1425
advertise1431
givec1449
insense?c1450
instruct1489
ascertain1490
let1490
alighta1500
advert1511
signify1523
reform1535
advise1562
partake1565
resolve1568
to do to ware1594
to let into one's knowledge1596
intellect1599
possess1600
acquainta1616
alighten1615
recommenda1616
intelligence1637
apprise1694
appraise1706
introduce1741
avail1785
prime1791
document1807
to put up1811
to put a person au fait of1828
post1847
to keep (someone) straight1862
monish1866
to put next to1896
to put (one) wise (to)1896
voice1898
in the picture1900
to give (someone) a line on1903
to wise up1905
drum1908
hip1932
to fill (someone) in on1945
clue1948
background1961
to mark a person's card1961
to loop in1994
1961 Time 10 Feb. 13/3 Salinger ‘backgrounded’ reporters on the news.
1971 Rhodesia Herald 23 June He has served at The Hague and is completely backgrounded on the territory and the World Court battle.
1977 Washington Post 13 Mar. a1 A high-ranking State Department official well backgrounded in African affairs.
1985 New Yorker 11 Mar. 121/2 Israel's Embassy in Washington ‘backgrounded’ American reporters.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online September 2019).
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n.1672
v.1768- non-indigene
- non-indigenous
- non-individual
- non-indo-european
- non-inductive
- non-industrial
- non-industrialized
- non-infallibilist
- non-infectious
- non-infective
- non-inferential
- non-inferentially
- non-inflammability
- non-inflammable
- non-inflammatory
- non-inflected
- non-inflectional
- non-influence
- non-information
- non-nitrogenized
- non-nitrogenous
- non-normal
- non-normality
- non-normally
- non-novel